Communities for a Better Environment: Triangulating NASA Data and Participatory GIS with Local Organizing to Advance Environmental Justice in Los Angeles

In partnership with Communities for a Better Environment, a community-based organization leading the advancement of zero-emission technologies and green infrastructure in environmental justice communities, our 2-year Data Integration Project examines urban heat island- and air pollution-related inequities toward identifying ecosystem service-based solutions for advancing equity and environmental justice (EEJ) in Southeast Los Angeles (SELA), California. SELA is a large, underserved, environmental justice community of color that bears an uneven burden of urban heat islands and mobile and stationary sources of air pollution. Further, inequitable access to ecosystem services (e.g., health benefits derived from natural environments) that mitigate heat island and air pollution impacts (e.g., public parks, open space, treetop canopy) may exacerbate poor health outcomes in SELA.